Journalism student with a passion for learning, leading & creating.

Och Weesht and Get Oan Wae It

It escaped from my right ear and left a part of me on the cobblestone.

It was a trip that deserved a part of me left behind. Edinburgh was cold, windy and rainy but still undeniably beautiful, rich, full and thriving.

We arrived exhausted on the first day, struggling to make it to a 9pm bedtime. After fish & chips, a salad, and our first drinks in Scotland (as my first legal drink was actually on the airplane over…) we promptly and deeply fell asleep. But the next day was packed with city exploration – a bus tour, an ever-expanding knowledge of the city’s layout (with the help of a few hard-copy maps), strolls along the Grassmarket and Royal Mile, snacks and tea in the Elephant House Cafe where the first Harry Potter book began (and our first official dabbling in the “caffè culture” of Edinburgh), as well as a very confusing – though visually stunning – postmodern show at the International Festival.

But the thing about cities is there’s always more to explore, and always the touristy needs. So of course we saw the Castle and explored Camera Obscura (a world of illusions, and quite potentially my favourite part of the trip), and the Edinburgh Dungeon. In the evening, we went out to a lovely pub called the Tron and discovered new favourite drinks – for one of my closest friends, a “glitterbomb” or Smirnoff Gold with Monster or a similar energy drink, and for myself, our own creation suggested by a knowledgable bartender – “the Golden Muse” or honey whiskey mixed with lemonade.

Group photo in front of the Edinburgh Castle.

Kaleidoscope at Camera Obscura in Edinburgh.

Glitterbomb(ed) princesses.

Sorry, dad.

Our final day in Scotland consisted of a trek up Arthur’s Seat, the extinct volcano on the outskirts of downtown Edinburgh (which was not quite as leisurely a hike as our fearless group leader described nor my Converse-clad self was expecting), concluded by a picnic on the windy peak and a stop for fudge and a chat with a few rather attractive young Scotsmen who were working at said shop. In the evening we saw a hilarious production called “Sh*t-Faced Shakespeare” which was undeniably one of the funniest performances I have ever seen, and completely made up for the strange visual spectacle we had witnessed earlier in the week.

We climbed to the top of this!

View from the top of Arthur’s Seat.

Our “sh*t-faced” cast member of “Sh*t-Faced Shakespeare”

I left a part of me in Edinburgh, physically and metaphorically speaking.

I hope the cobblestones take good care of my earring. I’ll be back, someday.